The Pirate Bay to be blocked in Ireland

The Pirate Bay is to be blocked in the Republic of Ireland after six of the country's internet service providers were ordered to take action against the file-sharing website.

Four music labels lodged separate complaints against the notorious service on the grounds of alleged copyright infringement, prompting the High Court to clamp down on it.

EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner Music claim that the website costs them around £17 million a year in illegal downloads in the Irish market.

Vodafone, Digiweb, UPC, Imagine, Telefonica O2 and Hutchison 3G have been given until mid-July to implement the ban, while a seventh provider Eircom has been voluntarily blocking Pirate Bay since 2009.

The Irish Recorded Music Association, which represents the four record labels, has welcomed the High Court's ruling.

"The Irish Recorded Music Association is very pleased at the decision of the High Court, which blocks access by all ISPs to the notorious Pirate Bay website," the organization's director general, Dick Doyle, told BBC News.

"It is estimated that 8% of all internet users in Ireland accessed the website on a monthly basis.

"The template from this decision will now be used to seek further orders blocking access to other websites and cyber-lockers predominately involved in making available infringing copyrights."